The summer music festival season provided the MAX-R BBC R&D team an opportunity to explore the multiple technologies that come together to deliver musical experiences at scale to real world audiences, while being broadcast live to TV and radio. Technologies developed within MAX-R could potentially fit into this mix in the future, by providing opportunities to additionally simulcast performances to immersive extended reality (XR) 3D spaces (commonly referred to as ‘the metaverse’).

Festival performers make use of large areas of the stage, and often incorporate theatrical lighting, smoke, and other effects to enhance to their performances. Dancers and fans on stage might also add to the spectacle as shown in the festival image.

While exciting to view, these factors can make it challenging to capture the live festival performers for XR experiences since they are likely to interfere with specialised kit such as multi-camera 3D capture rigs aimed at volumetric reconstruction of performers. Instead, BBC R&D are exploring ways to capture performers to provide a sense of 3D through standard broadcast cameras which would not impede performances. 

The MAX-R team were able to scout out where MAX-R technology might fit in, and observe how festival audiences and performers interact, to ascertain what aspects might be suitable to port to future XR music experiences.